


What'd I Miss

by shessocold



Series: I Told I'd Always Love You, I Always Did, I Always Will [7]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Awkward Sexual Situations, Awkwardness, Best Friends, Coming Out, First Kiss, First Love, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Getting Together, Hogwarts, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Marauders, Marauders Friendship, Marauders' Era, POV James Potter, Past Blackinnon, Sirius Black & James Potter Friendship, Talking, Teen Romance, Teenagers, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-02
Updated: 2018-05-02
Packaged: 2019-05-01 04:54:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14512980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shessocold/pseuds/shessocold
Summary: Sirius has something he needs to discuss with James.





	What'd I Miss

“Prongs! Psst! In here!”

James closes the broom cupboard door behind him. Sirius is half-hidden in the midst of what appears to be Filch's entire mop collection, his expression slightly manic, his hair sticking up on one side of his head. James stares at him, bewildered. 

“Where have you been? I had to tell Flitwick that you were recovering from a badly cast sinus clearing spell, and I don't think he believed me. Did you even come back to our dormitory last night? Have you _showered_ recently?” 

Sirius runs a shaky hand through his messy hair. 

“I have something to tell you,” he says, and he takes a deep breath. _He's been expelled_ , thinks James, automatically. _He's been expelled and now he's planning to hide in here for the rest of the year. Great. Perfect._

“Look, Pads, I'm sure that if you talked to Dumbledore...” 

“What?” says Sirius, taken aback. 

“I don't know what you did, but if they didn't kick you out after that thing with Snivellus chances are that they wouldn't– ” 

“James,” says Sirius, seizing him by the shoulders. “Stop. I'm not in trouble. Let me finish.” 

“Oh. All right. What happened to you, then?” 

“I, er, snogged someone last night.” 

James blinks. 

“Good for you, mate,” he says, puzzled, studying Sirius' face for clues. “I assume there's more to the story?” 

Sirius nods. 

“You're my best mate, right?” 

“Of course,” says James, earnestly. Sirius nods again. 

“Do you promise not to repeat what I'm about to say?” 

“Yeah, don't worry.” 

“Not to Peter,” says Sirius, holding up a finger, “and _especially_ not to Moony.” 

James snorts. 

“Wait, why the emphasis on Moony? Did you snog his mum, or something?” 

Sirius turns bright pink. 

“Not his mum,” he says, in a dignified tone, while James gapes at him. “I snogged him, all right? I snogged Moony. Well, he snogged me, technically, but here we are.” 

James leans against the cupboard wall and closes his eyes for a moment. 

“Poor Moony,” he says, softly. “Like he didn't have enough problems already.” 

“Why, thank you,” says Sirius, sounding quite offended. 

“Oh, shut up, you know what I mean,” says James, with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Getting turned down is already unpleasant enough, but getting turned down by your mate – that you have to share a room with – has to be be downright humiliating.” 

“Turned down?” 

“Wait, do you mean you didn't?” 

“No, of course I didn't!" says Sirius, looking at James like James had lost his mind. "Why would I?" 

“Well, because he's a bloke, and you like girls?” 

Sirius clears his throat. 

“See, about that.” 

“ _Really_? But what about Marlene?” 

Sirius sighs. 

“All right, this next part is even more confidential than the rest,” he says, basically in a whisper. “Swear on your broomstick.” 

James puts his hand over his heart. 

“Not a word to another soul.” 

Sirius chews on his thumb nail for a bit. 

“Right, so Marlene is very fit, right? She could stand to be nicer, but she's beautiful.” 

James nods. 

“Not quite Evans levels of pretty, but she's something.” 

“And I _know_ that, in theory. But when I tried snogging her, it was a disaster. I felt nothing at all. I just wanted it to be over.” 

“Oh. Really?” 

“Yeah. And it got worse.” 

“How?” 

“So, the last time we went to Hogsmeade – she knows this place, right? Her friend told her about it. It's a sort of half-ruined hut, but it still has a couple of walls standing and a bit of roof, and if it's not too cold you can go there and be quite alone. I think she thought that maybe what we needed was more privacy,” says Sirius, in a tone that suggests that he disagreed strongly. “Anyway, we got there, and we tried snogging some more, and then she took off her knickers.” 

“She did _what_?” 

“She took off her knickers,” repeats Sirius, in a flat tone that to James sounds like pretty definitive proof of the fact that he does not, indeed, like girls. “And she wanted me... well, to shag her, I suppose.” 

“And did you do it?” 

Sirius shakes his head. 

“I couldn't,” he says, grimacing. “I wanted to, because I thought that maybe if I tried it would turn out that I liked it, but I honestly couldn't. It was like... like rubbing a flobberworm against a slug.” 

“That sounds horrible,” says James, alarmed by the implications. “Does that mean that it is cold?” 

“What?” 

“You know, a girl's... their... oh, you know what I'm talking about. You said it was like a slug.” 

“I didn't mean that it was _exactly_ like a slug,” says Sirius, irritably. “That's not the point. It wasn't cold, it wasn't even unpleasant, really, it was just... there. I was too busy trying to get it up to get a good look at it. And all through that she kept _staring_ at me...” 

James groans in sympathy. 

“And then I stopped trying, because there was no point,” says Sirius, avoiding James' gaze. “We got dressed, and we had a row, and we split up. And good riddance to her, frankly, going out with her was like Flying lessons all over again – she and Hooch would get along, I bet. Hours and hours of fun discussing just how big a disappointment I turned out to be.” 

“I'm sorry, mate,” says James, with a wince, recalling Sirius' appalling broomstick performances in their first year. “But at least this time you didn't break anything. Look at the bright side of it – imagine having to go to Pomfrey and explain!” 

Sirius doesn't laugh. 

“Tell me about Moony,” says James, after a bit, in a soothing tone. “How did you... ?” 

Sirius' face lights up. 

“So, we had detention – oh, and it turns out that he didn't get caught, by the way, he simply went to McGonagall and told her that the thing with the Dungbomb in Slytherin's roast had been his idea.” 

“What? He lied to _get_ detention?” 

“Yeah,” says Sirius, grinning proudly, “he's sneaky, isn't he? – he said that he did it because he wanted an excuse to be alone with me.” 

“That's devious,” says James, amused. “Watch out, he's turning all Slytherin-ish on us. And then he kissed you?” 

“He did. We talked a bit about my thing with Marlene – I did not tell him about the fiasco in the hut, of course,” says Sirius, shooting James a warning look. “The last thing I need is for him to think that I can't get it up. Understood?” 

James puts his hand over his heart again. 

“Don't worry, mate. And then?” 

“And then he put his hand on my cheek and he kissed me,” says Sirius, going a bit pink. He looks so happy that James can't help but smile, even if the idea of _Moony_ kissing _Sirius_ still sounds downright bizarre to him. “And we snogged for a while. And then Filch came back and almost caught us, and he made me stay back because I wasn't done with the stuff I was supposed to polish. By the time he let me go, I was so freaked out that I couldn't bring myself to go back to our dormitory, so I came here instead.” 

“Freaked out? Why?” 

Sirius is silent for a bit. 

“James, I _really_ like him,” he says, eventually, in a very soft voice. “I've liked him for years.” 

“Really? And you never said anything?” says James, his feelings slightly hurt. “Not even to me?” 

“Why, and have you pity me?” 

James scoffs. 

“I wouldn't have _pitied_ you, you idiot.” 

“Yes, you would have, because before last night neither of us had a clue that Moony was into blokes,” says Sirius, not unreasonably. “It was completely hopeless, so there was no point talking about it.” 

“All right, that makes sense,” admits James. “Sort of an Evans situation, if you will.” 

Sirius grins. 

“Who knows, maybe this means that there's hope for you and Evans yet.” 

“Yeah, right,” says James, rolling his eyes. “Sounds likely. But going back to you and Moony, are you... boyfriends now? How does that work?” 

“I have no idea,” says Sirius, a bit uneasily. “We didn't talk about it or anything, there was no time.” 

“But it was good, right?” 

“It was great, yes. Brilliant, actually.” 

“And he didn't stare at you like you had just mounted your broom backwards, I assume?” 

Sirius snorts. 

“He did not, thankfully.” 

“And your, er, trousers situation was as expected?” 

“Oh, yeah, definitely,” says Sirius, his cheeks bright pink, addressing one of Filch's mops. “His too, actually. I checked. Thoroughly.” 

James grins. 

“Well, then, I reckon you'll probably be fine – provided you get out of this cupboard and go take a bath or something, because frankly, Pads, between me and you, you've smelled better.” 

“Right,” says Sirius, sheepishly, sniffing at his own armpit. “Good suggestion.” 

“And when you're done, for fuck's sake, go find the poor bloke and _talk_ to him,” adds James, urgently, the thought having occurred to him all of a sudden. “No wonder he looked so worried this morning – he probably assumed his snogging style ran you right out of the school. Honestly!” 

Sirius' eyes go very wide. 

“Right,” he says again, extricating himself from his tangle of mops. James grins. Sirius opens the door and pauses with his hand on the doorknob, his chin lifted, his shoulders set, cutting a rather impressive – if slightly greasy – figure against the bustle of the corridor. “I have to go. Thank you for the chat. See you later, mate,” he says, nodding solemnly, and he darts out of the cupboard. 

“Shower first!” shouts James, over the heads of a gaggle of very confused first years, trying very hard not to laugh. “Trust me on this!”

**Author's Note:**

> Lesbian witches who are Quidditch enthusiasts have no patience for young Sirius' nonsense.


End file.
